Detox and Treatment Information

Important Information about Detox, Rehab and Treatment

We are often asked the question of, “Why do standalone medical detox centers exist when a patient can simply do an all-in-one detox & drug rehab program in one location?”  From a non-clinical perspective it is actually a sensible question.  If you can go to one location and receive both, medical detox as well as residential drug rehab, why would you opt to first go to a separate detox center and then a week or two later transition to a new facility for inpatient treatment?

There are many answers to this question, but most of all it has to do with safety, effectiveness, experience and overall quality of care.  Here is a quick list of highlights which explain the how and why of it….

• The physical withdrawal process from many drugs of abuse is not only very uncomfortable at times, but in some cases also potentially fatal.  Drugs such as benzodiazepines (Valium, Xanax, etc.) and alcohol for instance, can actually cause life threatening seizures if not appropriately detoxed from.  Since drug rehab centers are geared for treatment more so than actual clinical detox, they rarely have the appropriate medical staff on hand or medication & services to deal with such spur of the moment needs.  In fact, traditional inpatient treatment almost always contracts out their detox services to offsite providers, which means emergency services are not readily available to to deal with such occurrences.

• Inpatient addiction treatment centers by and large offer therapeutic services, backed up with onsite techs in order to help run the day to day operations.  There is absolutely no credentialing or state or federally mandated schooling required in order to be a tech, other than basic first aid and CPR.  At Revive for instance, our lowest trained clinical support staff consists of a combination of LVN’s (Licensed Vocation Nurse) and EMT’s (Emergency Medical Technician).  This is of absolute critical importance since no two detox processes are the same, and thus the staff must embody the credentialing, expertise and frame of mind to handle all scenarios.

• When detoxing in a drug rehab environment, the detox patients are either subjected to the normal daily treatment regimen or basically left behind, or some combination thereof.  Let’s be candid for a moment, drug rehab is a big money industry, whereas detox is not.  Most facilities are geared to devote their time and resources on the treatment clients far more than those in detox phase, which can thus make it all the more dangerous.  And for someone on Suboxone therapy for heroin or opiate pain pill detox, while their withdrawal symptoms are minimized, they are still best served in the grand scheme to fully complete detox prior to blending in a treatment regimen which, in many such cases turns out to be minimally effective in these scenarios

• There are many different styles and types of drug & alcohol rehabs, and it is very important that the patient be in a treatment facility that meets his or her specific needs.  When you first complete detox you then have the freedom and information needed in order to make the right choice for treatment.  In an all-in-one environment however, that choice is gone and thus the likelihood for attaining long-term, quality sobriety can often times be substantially diminished.